SOVIET DISARRAY; Yeltsin Says Russia Seeks to Join NATO

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In yet another sign that the disintegration of the Soviet Union was turning global politics upside down, the Russian President, Boris N. Yeltsin, wrote to NATO today saying Russia hoped to join the alliance some time in the future.

Mr. Yeltsin's letter was sent in conjunction with the first meeting ever held at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization between NATO foreign ministers and those of the former Warsaw Pact -- the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

The Soviet Union was represented at the start of today's session by the Soviet Ambassador to Belgium, Nikolai N. Afanasyevsky. But before the four-hour meeting was over, Mr. Afanasyevsky stunned the foreign ministers by announcing that his country no longer existed, and that he had been ordered to strike all references to the "Soviet Union" from the final communique, which had already been distributed to the press.

As one Foreign Minister remarked later, "we began the meeting with 25 nations present, and we ended with 24." U.S. Recognition Seen

Reflecting this change, the Bush Administration will probably begin granting diplomatic recognition to Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia and some other republics in the dying Soviet Union before the end of the year, a high-level American official said today. "We are talking about recognition sooner rather than later," the official said.

Ministers from NATO and the former Warsaw Pact gathered around an oval conference table at NATO headquarters here this morning, and Mr. Afanasyevsky was seated in a place marked "Soviet Union."

He had earlier told NATO officials that there had been an understanding among the various Soviet republics that this would be one of their last cooperative ventures as the old union. Overnight, though, Mr. Yeltsin took control of the former Soviet Foreign Ministry, and witnesses of today's session said the Soviet delegates appeared to be somewhat in turmoil when they arrived.

When it was his turn to speak, Mr. Afanasyevsky stood up and read some prepared remarks, welcoming this new cooperation between former foes, and then read a letter from Mr. Yeltsin. Several Russian Phone Calls

In his letter, Mr. Yeltsin said: "This will contribute to creating a climate of mutual understanding and trust, strengthening stability and cooperation on the European continent. We consider these relations to be very serious and wish to develop this dialogue in each and every direction, both on the political and military levels. Today we are raising a question of Russia's membership in NATO, however regarding it as a long-term political aim."

Other foreign ministers then read their statements. Twice while they were speaking, Mr. Afanasyevsky, who is Russian, was called out of the room to take calls from the Russian Foreign Ministry. He returned from the last phone call just as NATO's Secretary General, Manfred Worner, was going over the communique.

Mr. Afanasyevsky told Mr. Worner that he needed to take the floor immediately and speak to the assemblage. The Ambassador said his latest instructions from Moscow, reflecting consultations among the "sovereign states" that had replaced the Soviet Union, required him to request that "all references to the Soviet Union be deleted" from the final communique.

Mr. Worner said this request was impossible, since the text had already been distributed to the press. Mr. Afanasyevsky said that something had to be done, so Mr. Worner agreed that he would announce at the news conference after the session that the Soviet Ambassador, who during the meeting had become the former Soviet Ambassador, had asked that all references to the Soviet Union be struck from the communique.

American officials speculate that after the Russians took over the Soviet Foreign Ministry Thursday night, Ukraine refused to be spoken for at this gathering by a Russian diplomat presenting himself as a Soviet official.

"We got to see the Soviet Union disappear right before our eyes," an American official said later.

The NATO and former East bloc ministers who gathered here plan to meet again to discuss various forms of security cooperation in Europe, and they will now be called the North Atlantic Cooperation Council.

Today's communique said the new council would focus on cooperation "on security and related issues, such as defense planning, conceptual approaches to arms control, democratic concepts of civilian-military relations, civil-military coordination of air traffic management and the conversion of defense production to civilian purposes." Challenge for NATO

Mr. Yeltsin's "long-term aim" to join NATO -- which follows earlier appeals by the other members of the former Warsaw Pact, particularly Hungary and Czechoslovakia -- could eventually present a serious challenge for NATO. Formed four decades ago precisely to deter a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, it now finds itself having to deter a stampede from the newly liberated nations of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, which want to join the Western military alliance.

NATO officials, from Secretary General Worner on down, seemed too taken aback by the Russian letter to give any coherent response. Mr. Worner suggested at his news conference that Mr. Yeltsin was not actually asking to join.

"I have seen the letter," Mr. Worner said. "He did not apply for membership, he just raises a question, and then says he regards that as a long-term political aim. My reaction is that nothing is excluded, and we will have time enough to develop relations."

Mr. Worner's ambivalence about the Yeltsin letter is not surprising. To admit Russia, which is expected to be the main successor state of the Soviet Union, would require NATO to redefine itself fundamentally.

The Belgian Foreign Minister, Mark Eyskens, said of the possibility of admitting Russia: "If you do it for Russia, you also have to do it for the other republics. For NATO, there is a danger of dilution."